That said, talks of extending him reminds of the last time we saw a dman of questionable NHL merit excel in a contract year where injuries on D led to increased opportunity:

Jakub Kindl in 2012-13. Puts in 3 months where he finally looks like he's cracked the top 4 while the Red Wings deal with various injuries (and garbage play from Ian White) on D, and have to turn to guys like Kindl, Lashoff and the aforementioned Kent Huskins. Gets a 4 x $2.4M deal and then goes back to being garbage before being peddled off to Florida with the Red Wings retaining a small portion of his cap hit.

I'd be afraid of Jensen going back to being Lebda 2.0 and/or getting hurt and slowing down. So more than 2 years is risky IMO.

And unless Jensen absolutely loves it here, I can't see him taking a huge discount or leaving term on the table to stay. The dude turns 29 in the Fall and at the end of this season he will have barely collected $2.5M over 6 years of playing pro hockey. It's highly likely that he and his agent will be looking to cash in for his first and possibly last opportunity to do so. Then again, that offer could certainly come from Ken Holland as we've seen with other examples on the team...

Would like to add, while he has been better, why on earth is he playing 25 minutes a night?. Injuries or not, he doesn't deserve this level of ice time. Blashill is nuts! We have been losing plenty lately, so not like he is making a positive impact playing nearly half the game. We are losing as is, so just let Hronek and Cholowski eat some minutes.

Also Shelby, what team is letting Jensen "cash in"? He is spare parts material, only on our injury riddled bottom end d-core is he even in the lineup regularly.

Would like to add, while he has been better, why on earth is he playing 25 minutes a night?. Injuries or not, he doesn't deserve this level of ice time. Blashill is nuts! We have been losing plenty lately, so not like he is making a positive impact playing nearly half the game. We are losing as is, so just let Hronek and Cholowski eat some minutes.

Also Shelby, what team is letting Jensen "cash in"? He is spare parts material, only on our injury riddled bottom end d-core is he even in the lineup regularly.

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I've been wondering the same thing about his ice time. Jensen has definitely improved this season but now he's apparently our #1 Dman?

I know some of it is that Jensen plays on the PK and the Wings take a lot of penalties, but I guess for Blashill Jensen is the new Hicketts?

Would like to add, while he has been better, why on earth is he playing 25 minutes a night?. Injuries or not, he doesn't deserve this level of ice time. Blashill is nuts! We have been losing plenty lately, so not like he is making a positive impact playing nearly half the game. We are losing as is, so just let Hronek and Cholowski eat some minutes.

Also Shelby, what team is letting Jensen "cash in"? He is spare parts material, only on our injury riddled bottom end d-core is he even in the lineup regularly.

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Maybe the increase in ice time is to help boost his potential value in a trade. Now instead of looking like a speedy limited 3rd pairing option, he's a speedy 3rd pairing guy that doesn't look completely out of place filling in for the 2nd pairing if needed.

I don't mean "cash in" as in he's going to get huge offers from teams or have a bidding war over his services, I just meant that he might try to get as much $ and/or term as possible given his age and relatively scant salary history.

Then again, who really knows... GM's like Bergevin and Chiarelli are still employed. I'll also bet if you climbed into a time machine a went back to 2/27/17 and posted in here that Brendan Smith was going to "cash in" that summer, Wings fans would be falling out of their chairs laughing.

I think it will also depend on how the UFA market shakes out. Karlsson, Edler, Gardiner, Stralman and Myers are probably the most sought after Dmen in the UFA class, but beyond them it's a mixed bag of aging/slowing vets, other teams scapegoats or spare parts similar in age to Jensen. Depending on who makes it to UFA status, Jensen could actually being one of the more favorable secondary options on the market, which could drive up his value.

jensen is right handed and a good skater. the two most sought after attributes in the market for defensman. My guess is he will get a decent contract from some desperate gm, just gotta hope it isn't holland

It would be silly to not be open minded about keeping Jensen. We are at the precipice of a bunch of turnover on the blue line with Kronwall expiring this year and Daley, Green and Ericsson expiring next year. That leaves us with 3 dmen under contract after the 2020 season.

Dekeyser - Cholowski - Hronek

For a good price I’d move Jensen but I’d prefer to move one of Green or Daley at the TDL/draft and sign Jensen to a 2 or 3 year deal.

Also pursue any top tier UFA dmen over the next two summers and we could go into 2021 with something like

It would be silly to not be open minded about keeping Jensen. We are at the precipice of a bunch of turnover on the blue line with Kronwall expiring this year and Daley, Green and Ericsson expiring next year. That leaves us with 3 dmen under contract after the 2020 season.

Dekeyser - Cholowski - Hronek

For a good price I’d move Jensen but I’d prefer to move one of Green or Daley at the TDL/draft and sign Jensen to a 2 or 3 year deal.

Also pursue any top tier UFA dmen over the next two summers and we could go into 2021 with something like

That's what it boils down to me. I'm perfectly fine trading or re-signing Jensen, as long as either one is at the right price. I don't want Jensen getting a Dekeyser contract.

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I highly doubt Jensen re signs for something reasonable without testing out UFA first. Hes 28 and the wings kept him down for a while which impacted his salary and hes having definitely a career year. At 28, this is likely his last chance for a 4 yearish contract so his agent would be dumb to not try free agency. Hes also not going to get a cup any time soon in Detroit which is a consideration.

If hes not re signing for less than 4 years, trade him. He'll fetch a solid return. Ken and Mickey were saying last game that hes drawing a lot of interest league wide aka bidding war hopefully

Article from yesterday identifying Jensen as one of the top 10 defensive defencemen in the NHL this year. He has been great this year and is getting almost 21 minutes of ice time a game. Depending on the offers the team is getting, I wouldn't be surprised if Jensen is resigned instead of traded. Currently, Dekeyser is the only Veteran D-man signed past next year. Jensen could be a solid minute eater while we incorporate kids into the lineup.

Article from yesterday identifying Jensen as one of the top 10 defensive defencemen in the NHL this year. He has been great this year and is getting almost 21 minutes of ice time a game. Depending on the offers the team is getting, I wouldn't be surprised if Jensen is resigned instead of traded. Currently, Dekeyser is the only Veteran D-man signed past next year. Jensen could be a solid minute eater while we incorporate kids into the lineup.

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All you really need to know about this article's credibility comes in this sentence:

And then there are puck handling wizards who just don’t ever turn it over, like Nick Jensen, Alex Pietrangelo, and Spurgeon again.

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I guess he drew that conclusion from looking at fancy stats? Because it sure isn't from watching games.